The acoustic properties of stringed musical instruments, and particularly, of wooden musical instruments played with a bow such as those in the violin family (e.g., violins, violas, cellos, and double basses) are influenced by a variety of factors. These factors include the quality of the instrument (e.g., skill of the maker, type and conditioning of the wood used, etc.), quality of the set-up (e.g., height and cut of the bridge, dimensions and fitting of the soundpost, dimensions and fitting of the bass board, angle of the fingerboard, etc.), physical condition of the instrument (e.g., presence and location of cracks, open seams, etc.), type of strings used (e.g., plain gut, metal, gut core encased in metal shell, synthetics, etc.), age and physical integrity of the strings, ambient conditions (e.g., temperature, humidity, acoustic properties of a concert hall, etc.), and the like.
The majority of the above-described factors cannot be readily controlled by the typical player, particularly in the moments immediately prior to or during a performance. Adjustments to the set-up of an instrument, repair of physical flaws in the instrument, replacement of old or damaged strings, and the like, typically require either the expertise of an experienced luthier and/or sufficient time on the part of the player. Oftentimes, however, a player is required to perform on an instrument exhibiting one or more unsatisfactory acoustic properties (e.g., pitch, tone, depth or volume of one or more strings, etc.) without having sufficient time, knowledge, skill, or resources to attempt to improve the objectionable acoustics. Moreover, it is oftentimes the case that a player strives to achieve a particular acoustic property during the course of a performance, such as the rapid change of pitch of a string that has gone out of tune or the strengthening in sound of a string that sounds weak, but is prohibited by the excessive time that would be required to correct the deficiency, which might exceed the time available to the player before his next musical entry.
The traditional mechanism available to a player for adjusting the pitch of the strings involves turning the pegs of the instrument. As shown in FIG. 1, which depicts a violin 2 for purposes of illustration, the first end of each of the four strings of the instrument is attached to (i.e., wound around) one of the four pegs in pegbox 4. Traditionally, the G-string 6 is attached to peg 8; the D-string 10 is attached to peg 12; the A-string 14 is attached to peg 16; and the E-string 18 is attached to peg 20. Each of the second ends of the four strings is inserted through and retained in a corresponding hole—22, 24, 26, and 28, respectively—in the tailpiece 30. The pitch of a string, which is determined by its tension and length, can be changed by turning the peg to which it is attached. Typically, an instrument cannot be tuned in this manner during the course of a performance inasmuch as the process is both time-consuming and disruptive. This tuning process is generally reserved for intervals between pieces and/or movements of a piece.
A second mechanism available to a player for adjusting the pitch of a string—typically the highest pitched string, which in the case of a violin is the E-string—involves the use of a fine tuner attached to the second end of the string at its corresponding hole in the tailpiece. As shown in FIG. 1, the second end 32 of the E-string 18 is connected to a fine tuner 34. Typically, the end of the string to be fine tuned is looped around a hook on the fine tuner 34, such that the turn of a thumbscrew on the fine tuner 34 changes the length of the E-string 18 and, therefore, its pitch. Although the use of a fine tuner may facilitate making small adjustments in pitch, it does not provide control over other acoustic properties of the instrument, such as tone, depth or strength of sound.
Stringed instruments in the violin family have been in use in a recognizable form since at least the sixteenth century. Thus, it is surprising that at present, one of the only mechanisms routinely available to players for adjusting the acoustic properties of an instrument is tuning the strings by the use of the pegs and/or a fine tuner as described above. Adjustments to other acoustic properties of the instrument remain largely outside the control of the typical player, requiring instead the expert attention of an experienced technician.